Note: Just another oneshot I put together. I thought of a pair that might be cute together, so I wanted to play with them a bit.

Five Stupid Dares

Trent was not unfamiliar with the notion of being hopelessly in love. He felt it every morning he looked in the mirror and saw his pretty mug. Watching her ginger hair being picked up by the afternoon breeze, Trent started to feel the same unsettling mix of pride and nerves in his stomach. The sensation had been with him since that little dork called out their names to the crowd—officially paring them together—less than an hour earlier. Now it was just the two of them. And they were sitting in a tree. If only the rhymes of children were truth, Trent would be in heaven.

"Are you sure this is a good spot?" Zoe asked. "I still think New Coventry would have been the better choice. More cops, dumber cops."

Trent forced a scoff and tried to roll his eyes as if he were talking to some idiot loser. "What did I tell ya? I know the cops of Old Vale, and there's one pig who always sniffs around this tree. It'll be easy."

"You'd better be right. I want to cream Jimmy."

Hearing her talk like that nearly made him swoon right off the large branch they were perched on. He let one hand off the dozen eggs to steady himself. The carton had started to get mushy from his sweating palms. Boots hitting the pavement called his attention. "Look, there he is," he said in a hushed tone. Trent pulled an egg out of the carton. "Got the camera ready? Don't worry about getting my good side; they're all good."

Zoe did indeed have the camera in her clutch. It was given to them by Pedro and Trevor, the two dweebs running the contest. It was one of those clunky black plastic polaroid cameras from the nineties. Didn't know why, but Philips had a shit ton and she let the dweebs check 'em out for the game. Instead of getting the camera ready and aimed, Zoe pushed it into his chest. "Oh no, you can take the picture; I'll chuck the eggs."

And chuck them she did. When the cop was still a few meters off, Zoe let the first egg fly. It went right into the guy's face, getting his eyes no doubt. She quickly threw three more, hitting the uniformed police officer in his chest twice and a leg. She jumped down from the tree, landing gracefully like an alley cat. She trotted closer to the cop who was swearing and wiping at his eyes. Before she got into his reaching distance, she turned back and flashed a peace sign at Trent. "Come on, take it!" He did as he was told and shot the picture grabbing the dark photo when came out of the slot. He was sure it'd turn out blurry from his shaking arm, and his subjects were pretty far away, but it'd still be enough to earn them a pass. "Let's go!" she called and took off running in the direction of Bullworth. She was gone in a flash. Trent took his time climbing down and approached the cop before chasing after her. "Uh, sorry about that," he told the mustached police officer with reddened eyes. The man glowered at him. "I'll extend the offer through next year too."

Five Stupid Dares was announced through a series of folded notes passed during classes. It was a sort of scavenger hunt competition run by some cliqueless losers trying to get attention. Trent wouldn't have even cared about the thing. Except he overheard Zoe talking about it one day in the hall, where he'd been watching her from the safety of a trashcan. The cute redhead had been chirping about it to that one chick with the great rack. This had perked his interest, but what really got Trent motivated was hearing her say that Jimmy was going to cheat and get them paired together. The scumbag king had been standing there with her, arm around her lower back, and gaze off to the side, checking out the ass of some prep guy reaching into his locker. If her stupid boyfriend could rig the contest, then so could he. And he did! All it took was a little muscle power on that twerp Pedro.

The competition had easy rules. You got a partner and a camera and then a piece of paper saying what you had to do. Then you did whatever it said, took a picture, brought the picture back, and then got another paper. The first team to finish the fifth dare won. Trent had put enough venom into his threat against Pedro to earn him not only a partnership with Zoe, but also a peek at the list of the five dares. He'd been given this enough time in advance to plan some things out. Like the cop. The first dare had been, "Egg a police officer and don't get caught." Well, Trent had brilliantly found a cop with a kid at Bullworth. A cop with a very meek losery kid at Bullworth. One who his boys regularly had fun with. He'd gotten the pig to agree to letting himself be egged in exchange for the bullies not bothering his son for the rest of the school year. Pretty smart on his part, Trent thought.

He didn't catch back up with his skirted partner until they were almost to the front gates. "Hurry up!" she called at him. "You're the one with the picture!" A table was set up in front of the boys' dorms where the dweebs running the contest stood waiting. "Okay, next one!" Zoe shouted as she charged at them. Trent reached the table and slammed down the photo. He'd pulled up short just behind her. His white shirt was actually touching hers. Trent gulped and attempted to concentrate on keeping his blood flow from running south.

Angie picked up the square picture and held it up to her stupid four-eyes. She laboriously studied it a few moments. "Kay, looks good!" Pedro held out a folded piece of paper which Zoe ripped out of his hand. She read it and held it up for Trent. He'd already known what it was going to say. "Dare two. Infiltrate a rival clique and put a kick me sign on their leader's back."

"Rival clique," she muttered. "So that means anyone but the bullies." Trent was shot a glare. "Too bad. Russell is the easiest target, probably can't even feel his back."

Trent sneered. "Oh yeah? You wanna risk taking one of his swings? Huh?"

Zoe rolled her eyes. Her pretty greenish eyes that didn't even need any of that mascara stuff. "Whatever. Think you could get us into the gym? You and Kirby seem, uh, pretty tight."

"That's over," Trent barked. He hadn't meant to snap, but thinking of that little jock really pissed him off most of the time. Asshole. "Anyway, I have an idea. Did you see Harrington House today?"

"I passed by it, yeah."

"Notice anything?"

"Hm. Oh yeah, a bunch of your guys were standing outside it."

Trent nodded. "Preps paid us a ton of cash to guard the place today."

"So Derby must've known about this. Think they'll let us pass?"

"Not a chance. Don't stand between a man and his paycheck. But it doesn't matter. That's all just for show. I know where Derby is really hiding out."

Zoe scrawled on a piece of paper outside of the Glass Jaw Boxing Club. Trent looked over her shoulder to see neat penmanship in red sharpie spelling out 'kick me.' The 'i' was dotted with a blob that was supposed to look like a flame he thought. "There!" she said while pulling off a snag of tape from the roll they purchased at Yum Yum Market on the way over. "So you sure he's gonna be in here?"

"Yeah, that's what I heard."

They entered the boxing gym. No sooner than when the door closed behind them, Trent was shoved to the ground. He glared up and saw the large buffoon called Bif towering over him. Derby joined his side.

The blonde preppie began to clap slowly. "Well done, very well done. You found me!" He gave a sharp sarcastic laugh. "Unfortunately for you, you will not be adorning my back with that hideous scrap of paper today." Zoe had held her recently made sign behind her back, but Derby must not have been as stupid as he looked.

"I'll fight you for it," Trent blurted out when he saw disappointment and annoyance appear in Zoe's face. Almost looked like Kirby for a minute.

Derby laughed. "Ha! Fight me? What would I get out of it?"

"The chance to rub it in the bullies' faces that you beat down one of their own," Zoe offered.

"No, I'll need more than that. How about, you win and you get to take a picture of me wearing your sign and if I win, then I don't have to pay your boys for today?"

Trent grimaced and clenched his hands into tight fists.

"There has to be something else," Zoe said.

"No, it's okay, I'll do it. Not like I'll lose to this rich snob."

"Excellent!" Derby cusped his hands together. "Only, you won't be fighting me. You're going to have to box my friend Bif here. Win in a fair fight and you'll get your prize."

When he first got into the ring, shirt off and heavy gloves weighing down his arms, Trent bounced around a few times. He felt good. He'd get to kick this mammoth's ass in front of Zoe, and she'd get to see how great and sculpted his chest was. Hopefully she wouldn't mind the bit of acne that popped up across his back. She shouldn't; Trent liked to imagine that Jimmy was full of all sorts of gross stuff. He was puffy underneath his shirts, not like the hard bodied Trent.

Bam! Trent took the first hit, right into the side of his head. It sent him backwards, tripping over his own feet. He snarled and touched a gloved hand to his tender cheek. Buffoon Bif smiled like he was really something. How hard was it to land a hit on someone who wasn't expecting it?

After taking eight more punches and not being able to land a single hit himself, Trent began to get worried. Worried, pissed, and embarrassed. He wanted to call the whole thing off before he officially lost to the giant. But then what about number five? The prospect of the fifth dare was enough to make Trent swallow his pride and brace himself for another hit.

That's when he saw Zoe out of the corner of his eye. While Derby cheered and jeered enthusiastically from the sidelines, she was tiptoeing the best she could in combat boots. Closer and closer, she had made her way around to the other side of the ring and was just feet away from Derby. The preppie seemed oblivious to her whereabouts. Zoe must have caught on that Trent noticed what she was up to, because her brows furrowed and she brought her index finger to her lips.

Bam! He didn't have a chance to accidentally ruin her cover. Bif got him good this time, right in the nose. His world went black for just a second until his ass colliding into the mat jarred him awake. The dumb mammoth prided over him. Derby got right up to the ropes, spraying spit with his cheers. Trent managed to get himself up to his elbows. The damn preppie might have broken his nose with the amount of warm blood he could feel trickling down against his lips. He'd better still be good looking enough for some decent headshots, otherwise he swore he'd…

A flash distracted all three of the boys. Zoe stood behind Derby, holding the camera out and taking a selfie. Derby spun around, exposing the kick me sign to the fighters in the ring. Trent laughed, letting some of the liquid iron spill into his mouth. Frantically, Derby's hands tried to pull off the paper, but she'd taped it in a hard to reach spot. "Gotcha!" Zoe triumphantly called out. She wound back one leg and kicked her heavy boot right into the preppie's ass, letting out a cackling laugh as she did so. Pure shock took over Derby's face.

As Bif clamored over the ropes to get to his leader, Zoe slipped through them. Grabbing him by the wrist, she pulled Trent upwards. He was surprised she was able to get him to his feet, but didn't question it. "Come on," she said and began to make towards the exit. Her soft warm hands stayed on his wrist.

After they turned in their second photograph and received the third dare, Zoe ordered Trent into a boys' bathroom inside the school. He didn't even ask to see what their task was, already knowing that it was to pick an entire row of lockers. He sort of felt woozy and talking made it worse. Zoe followed him into the restroom, not seeming to even have a second thought about her gender. She went to the paper towel dispenser and pulled out a wad, then ran them under water in the sink. She turned to face him and even took a few steps toward him. Trent watched as her hand with the dripping paper towels came close to his face, only to retract. "Here," she said and handed them to him. "For your nose. I'm going to go find you a shirt." Zoe dodged out of the bathroom, leaving Trent alone with a row of mirrors. So she may not have touched his pockmarked face. At least he could admire his still shirtless form as he wiped his bloodied face.

When Zoe returned, she had a jersey in hand. Trent pulled it on and found it short enough to expose his stomach with his arms raised—not necessarily a bad thing—and too tight on his upper chest. He raised an eyebrow at her as he wiggled his constricted shoulders around. "It's Jimmy's. It's the best I could do."

"Whatever." Trent tried to shrug off the fact that he was wearing that loser's shirt. He also tried not to imagine her pulling it off the king and no doubt seeing a roll or two.

"So I checked the place out when I was grabbing that, and I noticed that there are way more prefects on duty than usual. Think they knew about this?"

He shrugged. "Probably."

She folded her arms across her stomach and toed at the dingy floor. "Anything up your sleeve this time? You've had a lot of good ideas so far."

"Maybe."

"Well, let's get moving then." They walked towards the door together. As she pulled it back for them, she mentioned, "Your nose looks better. I don't think it's broken or anything."

It took some dodging and running to make it into the gym mostly unnoticed, but Trent got them down there, into the girl's locker room. The flickering lights reminded him of all the hours he spent just across the hall with Kirby. Asshole. "Good idea," Zoe said. She was already working on her first lock, a palm placed against the metal. Feeling the clicks of the built-in locking mechanism, nice.

Trent went to the trashcan and pulled out a screwdriver. He then started on the opposite end of the row from her, using the tool to pry open the weakly locked doors. She smirked at him. "What? Just had a good guess, that's all."

They each got a few lockers in before she spoke up again. "Doesn't look like anyone else has thought to come here yet."

"Each row is doubled, twice as many locks."

"Yeah, but all the prefects are up in the school." One side of Zoe's mouth curled up again, and she concentrated on her work in silence for three locks. Then, trying too hard to sound casual, she said, "So you know what all the challenges are, don't you? Did you get someone to tell you?"

Trent shrugged. He didn't know how to answer this. If he were to be honest, then she'd know that he knew about dare number five. But she already knew; lying would just come off as sleazy. As sleazy as knowing about dare five though? "Yeah, I got Pedro to let me see the list," he finally answered. It wasn't like she knew that he'd forced them to draw their names together. Hopefully.

"Oh," followed by a sigh was all she said for a couple more lockers.

"Sorry, if you don't like cheating or something."

"No it's not that. It's just… Well, Jimmy told me that he'd get them to pair us up together. But then right before they started drawing names, he said that he couldn't get any of them to budge after all. Not even for him."

He had wondered how he'd gotten those losers to side with him over the king so easily. Trent took a break from popping open another door and flexed one of his impressive arms. "Guess I've just got better guns." Zoe laughed at him, but it wasn't a mean one like those cheerleaders gave him in the past. No, hers was way better. Like even better than the sounds of someone else's lunch money clinking around in your pocket. After she laughed, they got back to work.

It took a 'getting stuck' on quite a few lockers—good thing he was an amazing actor—but eventually they met in the middle of the row at just about the same time. He still beat her there. What else could be expected from their two methods though? Trent struck a stoic pose, which made her laugh again, in front of the conquered row and she snapped the picture. Then they once again ran at the fastest speed they could manage back to the table.

The fourth dare took the pair to the school cafeteria. Being around three in the afternoon, the place was pretty much dead. Only other people around that were in the competition looked to be that dork head boy and Mandy. She was wrinkling her nose while he, face redder than a pimple about to pop, moved around the slush on his plate with a spoon.

Zoe put her tray down on the far end of the table from the other pair. She stared them down, fire burning in her eyes. Trent took the spot across from her. He looked at the spongy meat and gravy dish in front of him and forced a grimace. A grumble came to his stomach, which he not-so-subtly punched to stifle. The dare was for each of them to order up the chef's special and to eat all of it. Supposedly there were people in the cafeteria to keep an eye on everyone to make sure they didn't just scrape it into the trash. Trent honestly didn't see what the big deal was; food was food and he was always happy to have some.

"I don't get all the hate on Edna's cooking. Sure, she uses expired products and might occasionally spice things with a sneeze, but it's not like her food has killed anyone. I kinda missed it when I was gone." Zoe gave him a quick smile after saying this and then brought an over flowing spoonful to her mouth.

Trent began to pile the mushy meal into his trap. He barely even left himself time to breathe between bites.

"Geeze, I guess I'm glad someone agrees with me."

He cleared his plate considerably faster than her. When it was all sitting in his gut, Trent began to feel kind of nauseous. Sweat trickled down his back and stuck the jersey material to his skin. Zoe must have caught her competitive bug again because she started shoveling the food in like he had. The quicker she ate, the sicker he felt. He roughly wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. The thought of dare five coming quick was all he could think about.

"Okay, let's do this," Zoe said once she finished. There was some gravy on her chin. Trent had the urge to wipe it off, or maybe lick it, but he resisted. His twisted stomach sat heavy with him and kept his ass to the seat. Zoe held the camera out like she was going to take another selfie. She raised it higher and turned the lens around to face him. Trent hoped he didn't close his stupid eyes when she took the picture with (hopefully) both of them in it.

He couldn't bear to look at her as she unfolded the paper containing the final dare. They'd walked a bit away from where the table was set up and were now standing in the middle of the pavement at the very beginning of the stretch to the boys' dorms. The afternoon sun was really starting to beat down, making him a sweaty mess. Summer was almost coming. Trent toed the pavement and turned his back to her as her eyes scanned the paper.

"Kiss your partner. On the lips."

"Northwick?" she questioned. She didn't sound mad or nothing, but he still didn't dare to look at her. That is, until she let loose one of her musical laughs. She snorted. It sounded like a pig. But she wasn't a pig. Pigs weren't sexy or powerful with soft bodies that he was incredibly curious about. "Did you know about this one too?"

Trent shrugged.

"Well, I guess it'd be pretty dumb to get this far and then quit." She stepped closer to him. The front of her shirt rested on his bare arm. She smelled like Big Red gum. Trent forced himself to face her. When her face started turning up towards his, his body took over like it always did when he used to sit in the back row of the movie theater with Kirby. His breath hitched. Right when he was about to attack her lips with his chapped ones, she said, "Hey, don't forget to take the picture," and then took a large step back. Trent straightened and dumbly looked at the camera clutched in his hand, resting at his side

He'd blown it. He'd been too damn eager and now she undoubtedly knew what exactly it was he was up to. Way to go, bozo.

"Here, I'll do it." Zoe took the camera in her hand. Head racing with thoughts of what a freaking idiot he was, he didn't even register it leaving his moist grip. She held out the camera. Trent silently swore at himself.

Trent didn't realize he'd been kissed until the flash blinded him and Zoe was pulling away. Definitely wasn't the way he would have had it—tight lipped and over in an instant—but he'd take seconds any day. He had to turn away so that she wouldn't see his widened eyes and perhaps even red cheeks. "There. Wasn't so bad, was it?" she asked. He couldn't get out a response before her boots pounded the ground toward the table.

Even though the competition was over, Zoe was still hanging around Trent. She sat on the sidewalk, back against the cement wall that harbored the iron Bullworth gates, as he took a long drag on a cigarette he stole off a greaser. They'd been told that they needed to wait until five to see where they placed and what, if anything, they won. "This whole thing is kind of bullshit, isn't it?" she asked. Her words were mumbled, chin resting against her knees that were pulled up to her chest.

He shrugged.

"Don't get me wrong, I had fun. I'm just starting to think that they're making this up as they go. I mean, why wouldn't they just have the prizes ready?"

Trent looked down at her. She was partially clouded in the stream of smoke coming from between his lips. At least the contest conveniently tied up all the prefects' attention. He could enjoy his cigarette with only the fear of hacking like some inexperienced loser.

"I didn't even really want to do this, you know? There's only a few more Saturdays until the year is out. Almost seems like a waste if we don't get anything out of it. I just wanted to hang out at the beach and maybe make out behind some building, like everyone else. Jimmy is the one who signed us up for this."

Up until that point, Trent had been debating whether or not he should get down on the cement and sit next to her. Smoking had given him the time to think it over; he used it as an excuse to keep a polite distance. Hearing her talk about tonguing that fat-assed king made him a lot less eager to join her. He threw the cigarette to the ground and put it out with his torn up sneaker. Who was he kidding? She could describe in-depth riding him like a bronco and Trent would still take any opportunity to get close to her.

"I didn't think it was all bad," he said to her once he lowered himself beside her. "You did get to give this star a smooch."

She giggled, a noise which was even sweeter than her laugh. He swore he could feel his heart get mushy as it began to beat faster. "Yeah, I had a good time with you. We never really hung out before."

"Ran with different groups."

"Still do, don't we?"

He shrugged. "Guess I just matured." This made her laugh again, so he played it off like a joke. "You're not bad, for a townie. Maybe the school is better with you back."

"Isn't it sick that I'm actually excited to be here again? Now once all the rumors stop…"

He spit off to the side, away from her. "I never believed those. Pussies go around spreading talk; real men just duke it out." A mostly not awkward silence fell upon them until she checked her flip phone and declared that it was time to start heading to the table.

A sizeable crowd of students gathered around where the check in point had been for the competition. As he and Zoe sifted through the teens and kids, he could see that the table was still set up. Once they broke free of the murmuring crowd, the three poster boards and pile of pictures sitting on top of the table became visible. Three cliqueless students—the dorky girl, the little dweeb, and the dufus—stood in front of it. "Congrats you two!" the girl called out to them as they approached. "You totally won! Here's your prize!" She handed Zoe one of the poster boards. "See? We decorated it with all your pictures. And there's a gold crown because you won!"

Zoe smiled and thanked her. The two girls looked at the poster together, taking turns pointing at things. Trent stood off to the side. Eventually Zoe broke off and rejoined him, poster in hand. She held it up for him to see. Sure enough, their five pictures were glued to it. Some crap had been scribbled around each one in metallic gold marker, like frames or something. Trent more focused on the fifth picture. It was blurry, but it was proof that that quick peck existed. It, actually, made him a little uncomfortable. Couldn't put his finger on why though.

"So which one of us gets to keep this beauty?" she asked.

"I can take it," he answered, already starting to take it out of her hand. He had his eye on the photo of her in front of Derby. It was cute. And it made him think of her literally kicking his ass. "Or whatever."

"Be my guest." Her smile was the widest he'd seen all day. Barely hinting of a smirk. "I guess we really did beat Jimmy. He and Gord didn't even finish."

He snorted. "Losers."

Zoe laughed. "I'm going to go look for their pictures. They put all the ones that weren't from the top three teams over on the table."

Trent was going to call it a day. He was happy enough with how it all went. That's when he noticed Zoe storming towards the kids running the competition. She had a polaroid in her hand, which she snapped up to show them. Without fully realizing it, he found himself walking up to them. "This is the only picture from their team in there. Didn't they have to get through the first four before getting to this one?" she was asking in a sharp tone.

"Uh," the little dweeb began to stutter. Dork looked like he could have pissed himself. "We were going to do all the dares in the s-same order for everyone, but Jimmy convinced us it'd be more fun if it was mixed up. Less crowding, ya know?"

She let out an exasperated sound, which might have been a roar with the way the kid flinched. Zoe turned away from him, facing Trent who'd come up behind them.

"What's up?" he asked.

Zoe shoved the photograph in his face. He took it from her and held it at a viewable distance. It was dare number five from Jimmy's team. The mess of grasping hands and open mouths made Trent remember the few times Jimmy had snaked a tongue down his own throat. The bully almost vomited on the photograph.

"That doesn't just look like some dare," she spat.

"Nope," Trent said, helpless to think of anything else to say.

It just happened that the great Jimmy Hopkins came strutting up then, parting the crowd without a word. Trent was surprised that the preppie wasn't tailing behind him. A glance through the students revealed him to be in the crowd though. Figures. Gord, or whatever his stupid rich kid name was, began to try to slip past people. He was headed in the direction of the table, but he couldn't get there before Jimmy got to Zoe. "Sup girl?" he asked with a smug smile on his face.

She ripped the picture back from Trent's hands and threw it at Jimmy's chest. His unsculpted marshmallow chest. "What the hell is that?" she demanded. Her voice was loud and angry but steady for the most part. Judging by the moisture in the corner of her eyes, it wouldn't stay like that for long. "What the fuck are you doing kissing some guy like that?"

Hopkins grabbed the polaroid that'd bounced off his squishy body and landed on the ground. He didn't look at it though. Just held it in-between his fingers, protected from the dirty pavement. "This is nothing. It was just one of those dumb dares." His little rat eyes passed between Trent and Zoe. "You probably kissed him, but you don't see me yelling at you."

"Not like that." There was venom in her voice.

"Why don't we go back to my room and talk about this or something."

Trent looked up for the prep and found him to be concentrating on the brewing fight, much like everyone else. Except he was smiling about it.

Zoe began to move into her breaking point. He thought the tough chick would have held out longer. "Look," she said and wiped at one eye with the back of her hand. "I was supposed to trust you. You told me I could trust you!" Seeming to have remembered the crowd, she cast a defensive glare at everyone. Her sight landed in the direction of the prep, whose face suddenly changed into a sorrowful look. "I don't need this shit in my life," she grumbled before taking off in the direction of the girls' dorms.

Jimmy scoffed. He didn't make an effort to chase after her or anything. "What're you looking at?" he shouted at all the eyes staring at him. Then, he stormed away towards the door of the boys' dorms. It wasn't even twenty seconds after it slammed behind him that the prep slipped into the building.

Trent watched the crowd thin. The losers running the competition started to pack everything up. He just stood there, poster in hand. There were a few possibilities of what he could do now, and, for one of the few times in his life, he wanted to think over his options before acting. Or, at least acknowledge them.

He could rush to Zoe's side and ask her if she needed to talk like some sort of gaywad. Or just text her that question like a pussy gaywad. He could beat Jimmy's pathetic face in for hurting her. Or he could break into the girls' dorm building, find her room, and totally take advantage of her emotional state. He'd say something about what a loser Jimmy was and tell her he wanted to take her out to get her mind off it. If she refused and wanted to be alone, he'd pepper her with compliments, all true of course. Then once he got her out of the building he'd no doubt be written up for being in, he'd put the moves on her. Hopefully, this would lead to him scoring a make out session and not a slap across the face. This is what he would do. He could always go beat up Jimmy some other day.

As Trent let the posterboard slip to the ground and began walking towards where Zoe was probably crying, he smirked. Was there anything better than being an asshole?